I am in a new phase in life: The parent of teens. I was so excited to see my precious babies venture into life and I had always looked forward to the teen years....I was going to do it different than my parents.....Think again... I often fall into the same old cliches and the same old manipulatiave techniques....SO here is my input for anyone with younger children, PLAN AHEAD. Make clear boundaries, stick to them, make them again if they seem to get cloudy. Work at your marriage, work at self respect, teach your children how to treat you and then when they are teens, they will treat you just how you taught them.....either with respect or not. If they try the disrespect thing, go ahead, let them know that you respect yourself and you won't be manipulated or moved away from respecting yourself.....It is not so much about how they treat you as it is how you respond to how they treat you....I SO need to listen to myself here. I have seen it work and I have seen my SELF crumble....just a thought for parents of teens.....